The speech of the Imam and his stance vis-a-vis the Ba'athist Iraq regime was a cry in the wilderness. It was for the first time and perhaps the last time that a spiritual-political personality had in the sphere of dictatorship Ba'ath regime of Iraq broke the atmosphere of repression and cried out against them stating: "This government cannot be called a government at all; it does not have the strength of resistance vis-a-vis the nations…"[1]
[1]You cannot call that a government: Sayyid Ahmad Ruhani